Chad Fowler / Matthew Shipp: Old Stories

Call it kismet, karma, astral influence or just plain luck, but when two musicians instantaneously click upon meeting, magic happens. Indeed, that was the case with the coming together of saxophonist Chad Fowler and pianist Matthew Shipp. The New York-based Shipp is ,of course, well known to adventurous listeners from his solo and trio recordings, plus his history with David S. Ware, Roscoe Mitchell, William Parker, and Ivo Perelman. Fowler's name might be new to some ears. He is an Arkansas-based musician with a history in blues and soul music which informs his passion for free improvisation. He leads the group Dopolarians, an ever expanding supergroup which has included Kidd Jordan, Alvin Fielder, William Parker, Brian Blade besides Fowler's regular partners Christopher Parker, Kelley Hurt. Dopolarians released two excellent albums on Fowler's Mahakala Music, Garden Party (2019) and The Bond (2021).

Fowler and Shipp met in October of 2021 in Brooklyn to produce these instant compositions. Before the tape rolled, Shipp was warming up by playing Duke Ellington's music, which ignited Fowler's interest in the sound of Johnny Hodges. That is quite evident, as we hear fragments of "Black And Tan Fantasy" on "Chapter VIII." But this is no Hodges imitation. Fowler performs the composition with a saxello, or curved soprano on this one track. On the remaining thirteen tracks we hear a stritch, the saxophone made famous by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Much like Shipp's sessions with Perelman, there is little to no discussion before the recording tape rolls. Mood and pace are initiated by either musician while the other accompanies, complements, adds, comments, and corroborates the improvisations' direction. Where Perelman's saxophone tends to tread on the upper registers, Fowler works a more soulful middle way. Is this attributable to his study of Tibetan Buddhism, or his Southern roots? Probably both inform the gentle nature of this duo. Shipp's immediately recognizable sound is well-matched here, as he easily glides along with the saxophonist or pilot Fowler into the stratosphere.

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